Governor: Texas suing over Obama's transgender directive
Governor Greg Abbott today issued a statement following the announcement that the State of Texas will file a lawsuit against the Obama administration.
"The Obama administration has routinely trampled on the United States Constitution, and this latest executive action is yet another example of the administration's disregard for the rule of law. The President continues to violate the Constitution by trying to re-write laws as if he were a king. The States serve as the last line of defense against an unlawfully expansive federal government, and I applaud Attorney General Paxton for fighting against the President's attempt to rule by executive fiat."
The State of Texas has filed another lawsuit against the federal government. Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday that he's going after the Obama Administration for their directive issued earlier this month regarding transgender students in public schools.
Ten other states are joining Texas on this case.
They're taking aim at the president's directive, handed down to public schools, threatening to pull federal funding if they don't allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.
When it comes to transgender students using bathrooms at public schools in Texas, safety concerns have been brought up.
"Your kids at risk of having any man that decides that they want to declare themselves to be female for the day, walk into your daughter's locker room or bathroom," says Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas (R).
The transgender community is firing back, saying there is no threat at all.
"This is about transgender children that have an absolute insistent, consistent and persistent gender identity that is different. This isn't about one day saying I'm a boy, next day saying I'm a girl and going back to being a boy on a Wednesday," says Meghan Stabler, transgender, Board of Directors for the Human Rights Campaign.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed Wednesday's lawsuit in response to the Obama Administration's directive earlier this month. It states that transgender students should be able to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. Schools that do not abide by the administration's interpretation of civil rights under the Title IX law may face lawsuits or loss of federal aid.
"This effects 100,000 schools and now if you don't follow this policy, you potentially lose your funding?" says Paxton.
Paxton is taking action to protect Harrold ISD. That district has chosen to require students to use the bathroom according to the gender on their birth certificate.
"We passed a policy in order to protect the safety and dignity and security of the children," says Superintendent David Thweatt, Harrold ISD.
"Trans people are being painted as predators, right? The memes that are being used by those in opposition to us are painting us as predators in bathrooms, which we're not. There have been zero cases of transgender people crimes or acts in restrooms, locker rooms, public accommodations," says Stabler.
Harrold ISD's policy also allows for accommodations. Paxton says there is no case-by-case basis in the federal directive.
"These laws were made in the 60s and 70s, Congress has debated whether to change them or not over the last 20 years and they haven't. So that's the first concern, that we have a president that is stepping into the congressional role outside of his constitutional authority," says Paxton.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday goes on to say :
"Defendants have conspired to turn workplaces and educational settings across the country into laboratories for a massive social experiment, flouting the democratic process, and running roughshod over commonsense policies protecting children and basic privacy rights."